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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29451837">The Problem Children</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellioatmealthebisexual/pseuds/ellioatmealthebisexual'>ellioatmealthebisexual</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Warriors - Erin Hunter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Book: Super Edition: Yellowfang's Secret, Cat Crimes, Child Murder, Death, F/M, How Do I Tag, Hurt No Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, More Hurt Than Comfort, Murder, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Sad Ending, Why Did I Write This?, bluestar has very few moral qualms, bluestar is a bad mom, bluestar. mom of the century, raggedpelt and yellowfang are no longer together, raggedpelt is not a supportive partner, sagewhisker just wants the best for her apprentice, thunderclan really should have noticed mistypaw and stonepaw in riverclan, what if bluestar was a baby murderer, why do so many warrior cats have baby problems, yellowfang has to make a choice, yellowfang is trying</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:55:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,436</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29451837</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellioatmealthebisexual/pseuds/ellioatmealthebisexual</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Not every cat can handle having kits. Some's ambition gets ahead of them, and for others, there's simply no other way. Join me in exploring some alternate ways these mothers could have handled their pregnancy problems.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Raggedpelt/Yellowfang (Warriors)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Bluestar - On a Winter's Night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Big TW for murder, death, and talk of snapping necks.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was late into the night, but Bluefur lay awake, her slumbering kits curled into small balls by her belly. Gently, she roused each of the kits. They looked quizically up at her, and Stonekit mewed, “Momma? Why are you waking us up before sunrise?” </p><p>She gently shushed the tom-kit, grief heavy in her heart. “We’re gonna play a game, my little ones,” she explained. The kits looked delighted. </p><p>“A game?” Mosskit mewed. “I like games! But isn’t it too cold to go out?” </p><p>“Yes, a game. For this game, you’re going to have to be very quiet, okay?’</p><p>“Okay!”</p><p>She swept her kits close to her with her tail and murmured, “Good. Now, for this game, we’re pretending there’s a badger in the camp! And we have to get out of the camp and into the forest before it notices us!” </p><p>“We’re going outside of the camp? But I thought that was against the rules!” Mistykit gasped. Bluefur touched the kit’s ear with her nose. “No, no. It’ll be alright. Come on.”</p><p>Luckily, it was easy for her to usher the kits out. “Come along, little ones,” she whispered. They followed behind her. “We’re going to go out the dirt-place tunnel like we would if there were really a badger.” </p><p>They followed her out. “Woah!” Stonekit mewed, looking at the forest. </p><p>“I’m cold,” Mistykit complained. Bluefur gently pulled the kit closer to her with a paw. “Here, walk under me. It’ll be warmer there.” The little she-kit nodded. </p><p>They made their way to the middle of the forest. “I don’t like this game anymore,” Mosskit complained. “Can we go home now?” </p><p>Thinking quickly, Bluefur made two small scoops in the snow. “Here,” she mewed. “Crawl in here.” Mosskit and Mistykit crawled into the snow scoops and she gently covered them with white powder. Then, she beckoned with her tail for Stonekit to follow her. </p><p>A little way into the forest she stopped. She gulped, grief overcoming her as she realized there was no turning back. She beckoned Stonekit with her tail. Then, she gently pressed her paws on either side of his face. “I love you,” she mewed to him. </p><p>“I love you too, Momma!” He responded. She smiled gently at him and jerked her paws to the side. His body went limp as his delicate neck snapped. His eyes quickly went dull. Shaking, she made another snow scoop and put his body inside. She’d bury him properly soon. First… she made her way back to where her other kits were. “Mistykit?” she pushed the snow away with her nose and found the kit, warm underneath the cold. </p><p>“Momma!” Her eyes gleamed. Swallowing down her guilt, Bluefur said simply, “Come along, Mistykit. I’ll take you to where Stonekit is, hm?”</p><p>“Okay!” And with that, they set off. In the same clearing, Bluefur sat. “Where’s Stonekit?” Mistykit asked. </p><p>“Come closer,” Bluestar responded, pulling the kit close with her tail. “I’ll show you.” The once the kit was directly in front of her, she sent the little scrap to StarClan, where she could be with her brother. Pain tightened its grip on her heart as she covered the small body with snow. </p><p>She was almost unable to kill Mosskit. However, she managed it, and after putting her kit temporarily in a snow scoop, she began to dig. She dug until her claws screamed. Then, she gently lowered the three bodies into the hole. Hot tears slid down her muzzle as she covered the soft bits of pelt with cold dirt. She recovered it with snow and looked up. The sun would be rising soon, and her Clanmates stirring.</p><p>She silently crept back into camp. She got into the nursery and took a deep breath, her heart aching. She began to scrape a fox-sized hole in the den. She finished it, settled back into her nest, and began to yowl with grief. “My kits! My kits!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Yellowfang - Little Purple Flowers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Yellowfang's mentor has found an herb that can solve her problem. With it comes a dark omen.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: abortion</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yellowfang stared at the flowers her mentor had put in front of her. “You needed a solution,” mewed Sagewhisker, “and I’ve got one.” The elder medicine cat had explained that these small, purple flowers would put her little problem to rest. After all, her kits couldn’t shame her Clan if they were never born.</p>
<p>The old, white cat pushed the herbs toward Yellowfang. Yellowfang took a shaky breath. “I… I need to think about this, Sagewhisker,” she said.</p>
<p>“No! You’ve done plenty enough thinking, and you chose to be a medicine cat, did you not? You swore your loyalties to our ancestors! You cannot turn your back on them now.” She leaned closer. “I have seen it in my dreams.” Her voice was but a whisper now, her breath tickling Yellowfang’s ear fur. “If you do not do this, it will bring our Clan to ruin.”</p>
<p>Yellowfang shook her head. “I… I need to talk to Raggedpelt. He needs to be a part of this. They are his kits too, after all.” Despite the disappointment gleaming in her mentor’s eyes, she backed out of the den. She saw Raggedpelt and flicked her tail at him as subtly as she could manage. He padded over, head tilted in confusion.</p>
<p>“We need to talk, privately,” she whispered to the tom. He nodded and motioned for her to follow him out.</p>
<p>“What herb was it you needed to find, then?” He asked, loud enough for the cats in the camp to hear.</p>
<p>“Coltsfoot. And perhaps some dandelion, if we have the time.”</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>Once safely away from the camp, Raggedpelt dipped into a small cavern. She followed him, her pelt pressing against his in the dark scrape of rock. “What do you need?” His voice rumbled, seeming to shake her entire world.</p>
<p>“Sagewhisker has… found a solution to my… problem.”</p>
<p>“I have told you this before, Yellowfang. Our kits are not a “problem”, no matter what you believe them to be. Become a warrior once more. Be with me. You can be my deputy instead of my medicine cat.”</p>
<p>She shook her head. Sagewhisker was right. She could not break her oath to her ancestors, to her Clan. Not now. <em>If you do not do this, it will bring our Clan to ruin,</em> Sagewhisker’s words rung in her mind. “No. I… I just needed you to know that I’m… considering going through with her plan. The kits would never be born. They would not have to suffer the grief of not having a mother. I would not have to suffer the pain of having to watch them grow from behind.”</p>
<p>She didn’t have to see Raggedpelt’s face to gauge his shock. His pelt fluffed out, spiking along his spine. “But… Yellowfang, don’t you think that’s extreme? It…. You’re denying our kits their chance to grow.”</p>
<p>“They never had a chance. According to Sagewhisker, their birth would… would ruin our Clan. I can’t let that happen, Raggedpelt. I know what I have to do.”</p>
<p>The tom bristled. “You don’t have to do anything!” He paused, voice growing quiet. His next words felt like an icicle driven through her heart. “If you do this, I will never forgive you.”</p>
<p>She took a deep, shaky breath and steeled herself. “Then that is a sacrifice I will have to make. I will never forget our time together, Raggedpelt, but you will have to learn to see me as your medicine cat and nothing more.”</p>
<p>He growled as she slid out of the indent. She made her way through the forest, picking up some coltsfoot. When she got back into the camp, she set it down in front of Sagewhisker.</p>
<p>“Have you decided?” Asked the elder medicine cat, although she could see the steely determination in her apprentice’s eyes.</p>
<p>“Yes.” She watched a white paw push the flowers toward her once more. She looked at them, innocent and small for a moment. She imagined the young cats stirring inside her. <em>I’m sorry, little ones. I cannot take this chance.</em> She lapped up the herbs, wincing at their bitter taste.</p>
<p>She shook with grief, silently crying. Sagewhisker touched her tail to the darker cat’s flank. Gently, she guided the grieving mother to her nest. She tucked extra moss around Yellowfang before going off to their store of herbs.</p>
<p>She prepared for the she-cat a mixture of goatweed, poppy seed, thyme, and some other herbs. She gave them to her along with a mouse. Yellowfang took the herbs and nibbled a few bites off the mouse before pushing it away.</p>
<p>Sagewhisker finished it as she watched the she-cat doze off. She hoped she had made the right decision by making Yellowfang do this.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you all for reading! I've decided that I might write more than one way for some cats, including Yellowfang and Bluestar, so expect to see more of these two!<br/>Also, fun fact: mugwort, the plant described, is a natural abortant! It's also a hallucinatory herb, but that wasn't important here.<br/>As always, if there are more cats you want to see, be sure to leave me a comment!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading this far and let me know if there are any "problem children" and their mothers that you'd like to hear about next.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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